The Green Belt Movement

The Green Belt Movement

Erin Hostetler, Project Coordinator for EEIF, worked as the Communication & Funding Assistant at the Green Belt Movement International (GBMI) – Europe. GBMI is an international non-profit started by Nobel Laureate Professor Wangari Maathai that works to combat climate change through reforestation in Kenya. Through offices in the United Kingdom and the United States, funding and international support for Professor Maathai’s work continues to be supported.

Erin led fundraising campaigns to support the mission and goals of the work in Kenya. Since 1977, the GBMI has planted over 50 million trees in the watersheds of three of Kenya’s five mountain ecosystems. Using trees to rebuild valuable watersheds is a guiding principle of the work done by GBMI.

“If you destroy the forest then the river will stop flowing, the rains will become irregular, the crops will fail and you will die of hunger and starvation.” Professor Wangari Maathai